SWS: Pinoys prefer brains to looks

To be a ladies’ man, what you need most is brains.

Four out of five adult Filipinos are more attracted by a person’s brains than by the looks, according to a Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey taken in the last quarter of 2002.

The preference for brains over looks holds true for 86 percent of Filipinas, and goes as high as 92 percent among single women.

However, some 24 percent of Filipino men are more attracted to bodies than brains, and this rises to as high as 31 percent among men with a live-in partner.

The noncommissioned SWS survey was conducted from Nov. 15 to Dec. 2, 2002 on a national sample of 1,200 adult Filipino respondents. The survey had a margin of error of plus or minus three percentage points with a 95 percent confidence level.

As to the love life of Filipinos, 58 percent say they are very happy, 32 percent say it could be happier, and 10 percent say they have no love life.

Sixty-nine percent of married women and 62 percent of married men say they have a very happy love life.

Forty-two percent of single women and 24 percent of single men say they have no love life, the survey showed.

However, 11 percent of men with live-in partners, one percent of married men, seven percent of women with live-in partners, and three percent of married women say they have no love life.

When Filipinos are asked to choose between health, love or money, 54 percent chose health, 35 percent chose love, and 11 percent chose money.

Some 43 percent of males with live-in partners chose health, 40 percent chose love, and 17 percent chose money. Among women with live-in partners, 59 percent chose health, 36 percent love, and five percent money.

Less than half (49 percent) of single women chose health, while another 40 percent chose love, 12 percent money. About 54 percent of single males chose health over love (34 percent) or money (12 percent).

When compared to Filipinos, less than half (48 percent) of Americans are more attracted to brains. There are 14 percent of Americans who say they are attracted to both brains and bodies, whereas all Filipinos are able to choose between the two.

One-fifth (21 percent) of Americans, compared to one-third (32 percent) of Filipinos, say their love lives could be happier.

About 10 percent of Filipinos said they have no love life, compared to 15 percent of Americans.

The United States statistics were taken from the Fox News/Opinion Dynamics Poll, which was conducted in the United States in January 1999 with a national sample of 911 adult respondents

The survey questions were patterned after a 1999 US poll.